


The Person I Used To Be

by sxetia



Category: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona | Revelations Persona
Genre: Bullying Mention, Combat, Gen, Healing, Healing from trauma, Hurt/Comfort, Trauma, backstory elaboration, compulsory heterosexuality mention, headcanon heavy, sexual abuse mention, so be prepared for it to get real messy, there’s a lot here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21695920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sxetia/pseuds/sxetia
Summary: Yukino Mayuzumi faces down her Shadow — and herself.
Relationships: Mayuzumi Yukino & Yoshizaka Anna, Mayuzumi Yukino/one-sided Yoshizaka Anna, implied Mayuzumi Yukino/Yoshizaka Anna, though I didn’t intend for that, you could probably look at this through a more general shippy lens if you wanted
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	The Person I Used To Be

**Author's Note:**

> this work provides some insight into who I believe Yukino to be and how I interpret her story — the word “headcanon” doesn’t feel right here, because I feel like a lot of my inferences into her character can be drawn from mostly what the games and additional expanded media provide. granted, this work delves into some heavy topics (bullying, heteronormativity/compulsory heterosexuality, sexual abuse, homophobia) so it may not be for everybody.
> 
> this is who Yukino is to me, and the purpose of this fic is to present that on display.
> 
> additionally, while I recognize that by canon Yukino is implied to be bisexual, I am very firm in my reading of her as a lesbian. beyond the reasons stated in the fic, I think that her moment with her mentor is very poorly written and out-of-character for Yukino, which only drives me further into the sapphic territory for her. nominally I adore bisexual characters and will always fight for their honor (including other Persona 2 characters such as Tatsuya and Ulala), this is an exception. 
> 
> hope you enjoy this look into my favorite Persona character! 🖤
> 
> (also— I know that Durga awakens before when she moves on from her mentor, but... fuck that!)

**the empress —** _lost will, weakened strength, dependence, smothering, emptiness, nosiness_

* * *

Yukino **hated** mirrors. 

She liked to brush it off as Elly mouthing off about one American urban legend too many, as if her mind would give birth to a wraith standing behind her reflection. Perhaps the mirror would steal her soul, leaving her trapped within a reversed world. It wasn’t that simple, of course — it never was with Yukino, always something more complex lingering beneath what she was willing to admit. 

The reality of it all lied buried in something that Yukino **hated** to remember, an old shame looked back upon as a frame of reference to how _far_ she had come since those days. 

A painful set of memories, individual fragments of recollection coalescing into a single cognition: Too many hours spent staring into the mirror in her youth, too many times she had thought that she **hated** what she saw. Too much wishing that she looked different, or acted differently, or was somebody else entirely. Staring at the ugly mug that gazed right back into her soul, **hating** the long black curls and **hating** the buzzed scalp that came in their wake. **Hating** the busted lips and the black eyes, **hating** the pain that came with them. **Hating** the _blood,_ both hers and that of those she had picked a fight with, on her uniform, **hating** the feeling of razors between her knuckles and adrenaline in her veins. 

**Hating** the world around her for hurting her. **Hating** herself for being weak enough to get hurt in the first place. 

**Hate.** Yukino’s relationship with her anger was an intimate, tempered one. Something that had molded her into who she was and gave her a baseline from which to grow, the flames burning her alive from inside the only thing keeping her from freezing to death. Even now, at twenty years old and far separated from the burning **anger** that had defined her four or five years ago, she kept it all close and never left it leave her site. Empathy — you couldn’t just reject who you once were because you **hated** it. She understood the person she once was and empathized with herself, only made possible through the fact she never forgot the agonized fury her younger self experienced. If she just tried to forget or erased it from her subconscious, then how would she be able to tell how far she had come? If she couldn’t look back, there was no way in hell she would be able to look forward into her future. 

Still: Yukino didn’t expect to stare all of that **hate** right in the face, her reflection made corporeal before her very eyes. 

Tatsuya, Maya, Lisa, Eikichi — they had disappeared into the the chamber’s rear hallway moments before, Yukino’s eyes fixated upon their silhouettes until they blended into the darkness that consumed them. Like Yukino, they were on their way to save somebody who was special to them. For the four new companions she had made on her journey, it was their childhood friend Jun. For Yukino it was Anna, the wayward youth whom Yukino saw a bit _too much_ of herself in, a bit _too much_ of that **hate.** The parallels between the two women became more and more uncanny the longer that Yukino stared **straight** into her Shadow’s crimson eyes, studying her own ugly mug as her lips contorted into a disgusted frown. Yukino had grown familiar enough with her **hate** to learn how to mask it, temper it, _hide_ it. The Shadow had no such finesse, wearing the rage that it was born from on its sleeve. 

Its ravenous gaze threatened to burn holes into Yukino’s soul, but the fire within her burned bright enough to ward off the darkness the Shadow was born of. 

“Yukino...” 

Both instances of the photographer twisted their heads towards Anna as she spoke, Yukino’s face ripe with sudden concern while her Shadow assumed a sadistic grin. 

“All of what that thing’s said,” Anna began firmly. The stubborn, wearied deep to her voice remained constant, but steadily gave way to a concerned waiver. “...it’s true, right...?”

Yukino felt like a faker.

Her fists balled, the ends of her knives cutting into her knuckles so that blood stained the webbing of her fingers. The pain crawled up her arm, embracing her like an old friend. 

She couldn’t lie to the girl, but she’d be a hypocrite to admit it, too — all this harping on about Anna treading down the _wrong path_ when Yukino had called that path her home barely four years ago? Hell, she still couldn’t say with any certainty what the _right_ path was. 

Yukino’s lips trembled for a moment, and she she released the breath that she’d been holding with a sigh. All she could do was nod her head, eyes shutting. “Yeah.” The confession came out in a muted murmur, barely able to bounce off the chamber’s reverberative walls. The Shadow cackled, clenching its own fit with one hand while the other clawed at the air in confusion. 

_”What,”_ it spat out in that horrendous tone of voice: identical to Yukino’s, but _wrong_ somehow. Corrupted, demented — trudging into that discomforting area of the unknown lurking within her mind. “You’re too much of a fucking _coward_ to even admit it to the girl? All this talk you put up about wanting to be strong, or a role model, but when push comes to shove you’re too _weak_ to admit your flaws. Right?”

Yukino shot her Shadow a glare, bared teeth flashing in sync with the deep snarl that escaped her throat. The Shadow placed its palms out in a mocking gesture of nonaggression, cackling like a maniac. “What are you getting mad for!? I just want the kid to know the _truth._ That the only reason why you make such a big deal out of ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘helping kids out’ is because you want to be _seen_ doing it, to be _approved of._ All you ever wanted was for somebody to be proud of you, right? But that feeling never came. It never **fucking** came.” 

“I want to be proud of _myself,_ ” Yukino interjected through gritted teeth. Her assertion only made the Shadow laugh even harder, doubling over itself before twisting its head up at an unnatural angle to stare Yukino down. “Do you really _mean_ that? Or is it just something that you keep repeating to yourself over and over again because that’s what your _precious Mrs. Saeko told you,_ hoping that one day you’ll actually _believe_ it?” Another snicker, a finger jutted towards Yukino accusingly. “It sounds to me like you just want to do what you think she _wants_ for you, in hopes that she’ll be _proud_ of you!” 

The words cut deep, but they wouldn’t have had any impact if they weren’t true.

 _I did want that,_ Yukino humbly thought. _But that’s the thing. She_ is _proud of me. That’s just... not enough anymore. It’s not enough for somebody else to approve of me whenever I don’t sit right with myself. What’s the point of pride if you haven’t earned it?_

She looked back at Anna, who stared right back at Yukino with a combination of disheartened disbelief and slow-onset disgust. _I wonder if she wants me to be proud of her, too,_ Yukino thought. _I wonder if she knows that I_ **am.**

“Besides,” the Shadow jeered again. “How the _hell_ could you ever be ‘proud of yourself’ when you’ve done the things you’ve done, or when you are the person you are? People like you don’t _deserve_ pride!” 

The more that it spoke, the angrier Yukino got. The more her **hate** grew. 

That cocky, malicious grin again. “Oh, you’re getting **mad** now, aren’t you? Good, just let yourself get burned alive by anger like you _always_ do. Hasn’t that taken you so _far_ in your life...? Go on, tell the girl all about it. Tell her all about how you _still_ think that getting mad and lashing out is the only way to handle anything in your life. Just like when you were a stupid teenager...!” 

Anna’s face soured, as if it were her own Shadow jeering her and not Yukino brutalizing herself. 

Eyes locked between Anna and her would-be savior, and Yukino forced out an attempt at words of warning. “Anna, don’t—“

“Don’t _what?_ Are you gonna just lie to the girl? Tell her that who you are, or who you think you _used_ to be, aren’t worth thinking about? Something to be ashamed of?If so — how do you expect her to feel about how her _own_ actions? Don’t they mirror your own so much that it shakes you to the bone?” 

It was the truth. Every last bit of it. 

“There’s—... I’m not _ashamed,_ I just...”

“So why don’t you tell the girl yourself if you’re so unbothered by it?”

Yukino shook her head fiercely and stepped forth, raising a balled fist in the direction of her reflection. “There’s no _use_ ruminating on the past. Who you might have been and what you might have done on the way to where you are now... not a damn bit of it means **shit** in the long run, as long as you know that you’re moving forward, and...”

“How can you move forward if you don’t know what direction you’re headed in? If you don’t keep yourself in check, then you might as well be running _backwards_ — right towards that past you’re oh-so-afraid of.” That smile again, the Shadow’s wide eyes bagging up as it stared menacingly in Anna’s direction. “She’s afraid of it because she thinks she hasn’t changed a bit, you see...? She still feels all of that **hate.** She still **hates** the world for how much grief it’s given her in spite of how hard she thinks she’s tried.” Its glare suddenly locked onto Yukino. “Isn’t that right? Aren’t you **angry** at the world around you? Don’t you get tired of trying to be headstrong and giving it your all, just to be disappointed in the end?” 

Yukino couldn’t deny any of it, and that only served to anger her further. 

“All the hours you spent practicing your photography, only to have your art go unrecognized and get mediocre grades anyway because you’re too damn _dumb_ to stand a chance. Yeah, that’s right...! How could I forget? You’re an **idiot** too. All the time you’ve spent dreaming of being a teacher, only to realize you blew your chance at getting a decent education for it when you fucked up your school years giving into all that **hate?** ” 

The Shadow elicited a final, sadistic chuckle as its head lurched limply to the side. “Notice anything recurring? Sounds like the thing that you **hate** the most about yourself is your _past._ The part of you that you reject...” 

Something _changed_ in its facial features, as if a few years had been taken off. Bruises and bloody scrapes appeared on the edges of its jaw, and its brow furrowed into a scornful frown. “...and try to run away from.” 

Yukino’s eyes widened as the reality of the situation dawned on her, jaw dropping in disbelief. 

As the curls atop the Shadow’s head shortened into an awkward, outgrown mullet and then disappeared into its scalp entirely, leaving only a rough-buzzed head to carry its beaten face. The grey of the jacket it wore spread to all of its clothing, overtaking until it took the form of a tattered, safety-pin laden school uniform. 

Yukino’s Shadow ran a hand over its newly-bare head and cackled, gesturing to its new mirror of Yukino’s teenage delinquency with pride. “You finally get it now, don’t you...? It took you being face to face with the truth you so stupidly deny to get the message.” 

Yukino shut her eyes and took a deep breath, then released. Control. “I don’t... _reject_ anything. I just... want to protect Anna. I want to make sure no kids end up being the person I _used_ to be!” 

“ _Used_ to be!? How pathetic. You still can’t comprehend that this _is_ you — you can’t throw it away just because it was in the past. I’m you... and you’re me!” A single step forward, dirty boots cracking against ancient bricks of the bridge. “ _Protect_ her? Give me a break. You couldn’t even protect your _boyfriend_ from the business end of a Nazi’s spear.” 

Any pretense of calm or humility instantly vanished from Yukino’s features. Her eyes grew wide and her fist jabbed out towards the Shadow, only for it to step back and dodge. “Don’t you fucking **dare** talk about Fuuji, you piece of **shit!** ” 

The malicious smile made itself clear again on the the Shadow’s bloodied features, revealing crimson dripping down its teeth on one end. _Busted gums from a right hook to my mouth,_ Yukino thought with a chill down her spine. _I remember when that happened. This thing... it really is me._

Still, that moment of clarity yielded no reprieve from the Shadow. “Oh, I’m _sorry._ He wasn’t your _boyfriend_ at all, was he? You don’t even **like men.** ” 

It wasn’t like Yukino wasn’t all too aware of the fact, but to have the reality unveiled was like a kick to her gut. She wanted to puke. 

“You were so desperate to have somebody approve of you that you convinced yourself you loved him, as if his validation would bring your **daddy** back and undo all the pain he brought you and your mom. You’ve known yourself to be a girl-crazy **freak** since middle school, right? When you tried to ask one of your stupid yankī friends out they told the rest of the gang and got them to beat the shit out of you, like if they kicked or punched hard enough they’d make you straight again. That’s the only reason you left that life and found Mrs. Saeko — you didn’t have anywhere else to go. Too much of a worthless animal for even the rejects to want you — rejected by the rejects! Imagine that.”

The grief and humiliation hit Yukino like a tidal wave. It consumed her and swept her away from the shores of the present: she was now adrift in the past, lot in the sea of memory that she struggled to stay afloat upon. 

“So go on — tell the girl about how it’s easier to get angry, that the world around you is just your playground to vent your anger on. Tell her that toys are meant to be broken, and that it doesn’t matter what happens as long as you think it makes you feel better to hurt other people. Tell her there’s no place in the world for people like you and her, that even sleeping around and forcing yourself into the arms of older men who’ll **fuck you** to try and cure yourself won’t bring you any sense of solace. You’ll always feel alone, you’ll never be good enough, and you’ll always **hate.** ”

* * *

It was all the truth, and that realization cut deeper than any attack the Shadow could have hit her with. Her life flickered before her in segments, fragments that passed by her consciousness without context or purpose. The night her dad walked out on her family — parents screaming at one another in the background as Yukino distracted her baby siblings, playing with them and brushing away their tears when their mom and dad’s fighting would frighten them. 

Her mother grew despondent and exhausted, leaving Yukino to take care of her little siblings on her own. It was a hell of a burden to lay on a fifteen-year-old kid, but she trudged forward. They had to move when Mom’s single-mother paycheck couldn’t afford the house check anymore. Mikage-cho seemed like a fresh start, and St. Hermelin High was an avenue filled with promise and new beginnings. 

Until the bullying started, of course. 

It was always _something._ Her curly hair, her hobbies, the fact that she insisted she didn’t have a father. Eyes watching her and hating what they saw, shedding away any scrap of good that they could sink their claws into. One day she snapped — the pressure of home with no reprieve at school finally got to her. When they touched, she punched back. She began to antagonize all of those around her, started fighting, started causing trouble just for the sake of getting back at the world around her. Started hitting the gym, shaved her head, started to tear up her school uniform. 

She found a family among the rest of society’s rejects; a group of kids just as pissed off and hurting as she was. Life felt alright for a time. 

Her eyes for other girls were as strong as ever, but society had already rejected her wholesale. She was strong enough to carry that weirdness, right? Lower than dirt, unable to get any lower. 

So she run her mouth, told a girl she thought she trusted how she felt. She laughed in Yukino’s face — asked if she was joking, then called her gross. Word carried fast in their little tribe, and the next day Yukino found that her family wasn’t so fond of her anymore. 

She couldn’t remember what came first — the punches, the kicks, the shove that made her head meet concrete. She could still feel fists and boots bounding down upon her, the warmth of the blood down her forehead, the metallic taste of it on her tongue. How could so much hate be born from Yukino’s love? In a day she had lost it all again. If only she had kept her damn mouth shut... 

She tried to fix herself, or maybe just to feel like she had a place she belonged. Even if it was in the arms of an older man who only wanted her for her body. Like the fists, like the taste of blood, she could still feel their hands creeping over their body. _It’s easier to sleep around,_ the Shadow had said. Yukino **still** hated to be touched. 

Mrs. Saeko had given her a chance when nobody else had. She saved Yukino. That was the reality of it, laid bare: by choosing to just be there for a youth on the downward spiral, she saved a life. And because of that... Yukino had survived. 

She had made it. 

Laying it all out like that for herself made it a little easier, somehow. A time to process it, a chance to see how the events all stacked up into the person she was today. The Shadow was right, much as Yukino maligned to admit it: there wasn’t any such thing as who she _used to be._ Yukino was herself: a flawed, confused person who’s made a lot of mistakes. But that’s okay — she’s getting better. Everybody was. 

If Mrs. Saeko could make so much of a difference just by **being there** for some kid who made some bad choices, then why couldn’t Yukino? Surely Mrs. Saeko wasn’t perfect. Maybe she hadn’t fucked up in the ways Yukino had, but...

* * *

“Anna...”

Yukino spoke without daring to glance to the girl, eyes solemnly sealed as she raised her head to carry it proudly. “...yeah, it’s all true. Maybe I’ve lost my way a few times, but you know what?” In spite of it all, she managed to flash that self-assured smile. Her eyes finally opened as she looked at Anna, meeting her unconvinced disbelief with sincerity. It was a rare moment of vulnerability, a drop in Yukino’s constant facade of cockiness. “I made it. In spite of all the shit that’s happened and all the things that have happened, or all the things I’ve put my **own** damn self through...” 

Yukino turned to face her Shadow again and brought her hand to her face, cradling her jaw with two fingers as her thumb and index finger ran up her cheek. “...and no matter what the dark thoughts in my head might say, I’m still here! I didn’t let it take me away — I’m still **me!** ” 

The Shadow scowled and balled its fists at its sides, trembling with **hate** as a blue aura shot up from around its feet. “Fine...! Let’s see how **strong** you really are, then...!” Its Persona materialized from the unconscious around them, many hands curling at unnatural angles to conjure forth bright white bolts of electricity. Yukino grit her teeth and summoned forth Vesta from her heart, whose own flames began to burn as her lower wheel turned at high speeds. 

Woman and Shadow, subject and reflection — both called out at once, an informal war cry to set off their melee. 

“ _Here goes...!_ ”

The Shadow’s lightning bolts came first, striking Vesta straight in its chest and knocking her backwards. Yukino grimaced in agony as the buzzing shocks overcame her torso, focus broken and Vesta fading away into nothing. Yukino was left wide open for a single second, which the Shadow took full advantage of as it conjured forth more sparks with which to brutalize Yukino with. _A bolt like that point-blank, without my Persona to take the fall for me, is gonna kill me,_ she quietly thought. She struggled to come up with a plan, something to make sure that she didn’t come this far for _nothing._

* * *

A sound suddenly rumbled from behind her, bright cyan light filling her peripherals. _”Dark Malaques...!”_

In tandem with Anna’s voice came an overwhelming darkness that consumed all light the Shadow conjured, enveloping its Persona in endless black. Aeshma spread her wings and allowed her limbs to rise extravagantly, the Persona looming protectively over Yukino as if she were her master and not Anna. From the orb of dark came a torrent of water, flooding over the Shadow and cutting into its other self like a cannon. Yukino’s Shadow hissed and convulsed as its Persona dissipated, disheveled by the one-two punch of both its weaknesses being exploited at once. With her purpose having been served, Aeshma disappeared and in her place came Anna — stepping beside Yukino and staring the Shadow down valiantly. 

She almost couldn’t believe it. “Anna...” 

The girl let her stare linger for a moment before turning to face Yukino, narrowing her eyes and furrowing her brow. “All of what you said... about not letting the past weigh you down, and about surviving no matter what happens. Only _you_ could say something so _stupid..._ ” Despite the simmering critique in her voice, something in Anna’s eyes communicated a reserved affection. 

Yukino managed a wry grin and a raspy chuckle, shaking her head from side to side. “I never said I was smart,” she mumbled.

“Then that makes two of us.” For the first time Yukino saw Anna smile, lips barely curling up at the corners. 

She’d gotten through to her — all by **being** there for the girl, and **still being there** in spite of all the **hate** from the world around her and within. 

Mrs. Saeko would be so proud... and more importantly, Yukino was proud. Of Anna, and _herself._

The Shadow remained lurched over, gasping and panting as it stared the duo down. “How _touching_ — but I still can’t let _any_ of your miserable lives perpetuate even a second more.” It summoned its Persona in a blast of brilliant blue and lurched an arm forward, as if beckoning the two forward for a final clash. Yukino stepped forward and grinned, hand brought to her face once more. 

“I’ve made it through absolutely everything else that the world has thrown at me, and I made it out okay through every last bit of it. What makes you think _you_ can finally get me to give up?” 

Vesta appeared before her master, wheel turning at speed as if preparing an attack. Her arms spread out like she was performing for her audience, slowly becoming consumed by a radiant shade of blue that overcame her. Those arms suddenly doubled, sprouting out from her back and doubling twice more until ten limbs flayed out, a blade in each, and the wheeled legs separated from her torso into two distinct limbs. Finally, the light shone so brightly that its form became incomprehensible and burst into brilliant sparks, Yukino’s new Persona debuting with vigor as it directed its ten blades towards her Shadow. 

_”I am Durga. My duty is to rend asunder the evil that threatens the world... Know that your destiny is nothing less than this.”_

The Shadow scowled and raised its fist in the air and conjured its Persona forth once again, its once amorphous and indistinct form taking shape: a mirror of Durga, pale colors contrasting the vivid reds and beautiful shades of gold that decorated its doppelgänger. 

Reverse Durga charged forth with blades poised to strike, only for its moment to be cut short as Yukino snapped her fingers. On command Durga sliced with one of its blades, and in an instant the air around the Shadow and Reverse Durga began to heat up and sizzle. It exploded moments later in a blast of nuclear fission that cooked the oxygen in the air to its burning point — and with it, the Shadow and its Persona. The Shadow cried out in pain as matter itself burned around it, the stench of burnt ozone filling the air with every slice of Durga’s knives that brought about another consecutive explosion. 

When Yukino decided that the Shadow had enough punishment she stepped forward to leer over its cowering body, a limp, trembling shape on the floor. The Shadow creaked its neck to glare up at Yukino, who found herself much more easily able to stare into the eyes of her younger self’s likeness — at peace, no longer ashamed or burdened. 

“Defeating me will change _nothing,_ ” it warned as its fists balled upon the ground. “You will always be haunted by my presence, forever at risk of my hands around your throat. You cannot escape your Shadow.” 

Yukino shrugged and tilted her head to one side flippantly. “Why would I want to escape you? You’re me, and I’m you — and without you I wouldn’t be who I am now.” 

A sigh of content left her nose “and... I’m **proud** of who I am now.”

As if overcome by one final burst of **hate** upon failing to intimidate its target, the Shadow lunged upwards with its blade in hand, intent on burying it in Yukino’s belly. Of course, it wasn’t the first time Yukino had brought her fists to a knife fight — and she’d seen that trick a million times in her days as a yankī. After all, who knew how Yukino fought better than herself...? She darted back instantly to dodge it and brought Durga forth for a final time, raising a hand up into the air to draw forth all of her might. 

_”Thunder Inferno!”_

The Shadow got a taste of its own medicine as bolts of lightning shot out from the tips of its blades, electrocuting its pitiful frame and making its body violently convulse and shudder. Durga then brandished its blades in a circular motion, conjuring forth a column of raw flame to burn the Shadow to ash. As the fire consumed it, the Shadow shrieked out in defeated agony — gradually diminishing to a wail and then a defeated whimper. When the flames dispersed, there was nothing left — only silence and scorch marks from their fight. 

They had done it. _She_ had done it.

* * *

Yukino shut her eyes and sighed, holding her head up high. A moment to revel in the peace, of the fact that she got to experience the glory of being _alive._ She opened her eyes and glanced to Anna, holding a hand on her own shoulder. “...man, I feel like _shit,_ ” she half-jokingly said as she began to pace towards Anna, reaching up to fret and dote on the girl by placing a thumb on her cheek. “You’re all right, right? Didn’t get hurt on the way up here or anything, did you?” 

Anna scoffed and turned her head to break their eye contact, but so that her face rested further in Yukino’s hands. “You don’t need to worry about me like that, you know... I can take care of myself.” A pause, and then eyes back on Yukino’s. “...but... thank you for doing it anyway. Nobody’s ever really stuck their head out for me like that before.”

Yukino could only laugh. “Trust me — I know. It’s only what I’m here for.“ She let her arms drop and turned away from Anna, beginning to step towards the far end of the chamber and amble away. “Now come on — if you think you’re the only miserable kid I’m gonna try and help out today, then I dunno what to tell you. The others are waitin’ on us!” 

So brash, so bullheaded and stubborn. So _dedicated._ Anna couldn’t help but smile as she followed after Yukino, eyes locked on her all the while.

* * *

**the empress —** _strength, willpower, guiding hands, motherhood, fertility, nature_


End file.
